


Two Types of Pride

by OceanSpray5



Category: Code Lyoko
Genre: F/M, Gen, In defense of Jeremie Belpois, Lyoko Warriors, Minor Jerlita, Post Episode "I'd Rather Not Talk About It", friendship fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:41:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24506323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OceanSpray5/pseuds/OceanSpray5
Summary: Jim was waiting in the forest when Jeremy arrived. He noticed the young boy was sadder than usual. “Everything ok, Belpois?” The gruff man asked.“Huh? Oh…Yeah Jim…” Jeremy replied sullenly. He paused then, “Hey Jim… You’re proud of me, right? I know I haven’t improved much but my progress…it’s still…good?” He looked almost afraid of the answer and Jim paused, looking at the boy in confusion.“What? Or course I am.” Jim replied without hesitation. “I'll admit Belpois, I wasn't sure how long you'd last. But you came and showed consistent effort every afternoon and are even building up some muscle. I’m not just proud. I’m VERY proud. Now why do you ask?”
Relationships: Jeremie Belpois & Jim Morales, Jeremie Belpois & Ulrich Stern, Jeremie Belpois/Aelita Schaeffer
Comments: 31
Kudos: 44





	Two Types of Pride

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first Code Lyoko fic. I recently discovered this show and love it to my core. Jeremie is my favorite character and I absolutely hate how people seem to hate on him unnecessarily. I have a few fics I'm hoping to write for this fandom and this just ended up becoming the first I finished. This was a sort of warm up fic. I wanted to write something Jeremie centric because there's so much potential there but also I love his friendship with the warriors. Seeing how important Jim's words seemed to be for Jeremy after the S4 episode "I'd Rather Not Talk About It", the plot bunny for this fic naturally came to me. It was originally gonna be more Jim and Jeremy focused but it sort of wrote itself and Jeremy and Ulrich became the focus friendship.
> 
> I'm not entirely satisfied but I rarely am with my fics and I guess this was mostly to dip my toes in the water and figure out dynamics. I hope you all enjoy.

The others didn't quite believe him when he agreed to Jim's training session. So their shock was unparalleled when their gym teacher’s leg was healed and Jeremy dressed up in his track suit ready to go train with him.

Jim had made the rounds earlier, of course, once again asking the Lyoko Warriors if they were sure they wouldn’t like some more training sessions. They'd all politely refused once more, not willing to go through that much physical turmoil especially with school and regular XANA attacks.

The first shock was seeing Jeremy of all people out of his room in the mid afternoon when he was usually hunched over his computer working on defeating XANA or freeing William. The even bigger shock was seeing him in his gym clothes, ready to go to boot camp.

The group was all in the rec room and they stared, mouths agape, as Jeremy came by the open door.

"Guys, I’m going for my training session with Jim," the Einstein informed them. "I'll have my phone so let me know if XANA attacks." He said, handing his laptop to Aelita who was staring at the boy dumbfounded. Her expression matched the others who were silent for a moment before saying something. 

"Jeremy are you ok?" Aelita looked concerned. 

"Yes, I am. Why wouldn’t I be?"

The group exchanged glances.

"Its just… since when have you looked forward to physical exercise, Einstein? You skipped Phys Ed again just this morning" Odd pointed out, tactfully for once.

Jeremy frowned. “I was working on the Skid, Odd.” 

"Still Jeremy, you never even wanted to do the training with us the first time. So what gives?" Ulrich asked. 

Jeremy sighed.

"Nothing, ok? I just felt Jim’s training was useful and did help. I'd like to train where I'm made less fun of too so I guess its better than in front of the whole class. Anyway, I'm gonna be late. I don't want to run extra miles even if I am doing this willingly so I'm off." 

The group exchanged glances once more as Jeremy ran out the door with a wave goodbye. Each of them had a look of bewilderment on their faces as they went back to watching the movie on the TV in front of them.

Even Jim looked surprised to see Jeremy had shown up. 

"You're a good kid Belpois," the man said gruffly to his student. "Push-ups first. Let's go. At least 10 first."

Jeremy nodded and got started with a smile, realizing the teacher was going easy on him for his sake.

In truth, Jeremy hadn't felt happiness the same way he had when two weeks earlier when Jim had said he had guts.

No one had told Jeremy they were proud of him in far too long. Sure, his parents called and said they were proud of him for working hard and for his grades. Michel and Bea Belpois were nothing if not supportive and proud of their son's genius; but they didn't know about Lyoko. And his friends did occasionally credit him for his work in the lab. But mostly the other Lyoko Warriors were so busy competing with each other on Lyoko that they didn't realize the amount of work Jeremy put in. Sure, he didn't fight physically on Lyoko but he did do his best. His days and nights were spent burning eye out of their sockets but there was always the one bug overlooked in his coding and the few parts of his programs left unfinished to be of use exactly when he needed them. Unfortunately, his friends didn't understand that. They saw him working himself to the bone but they didn't understand coding and didn't really know what he went through. To them Jeremy was an Einstein, a genius. His work couldn't be that easy compared to physically fighting on Lyoko. So seldom did Jeremy hear them say they were proud of him and his work. Usually it was just complaints that he was too irritable and too much of a workaholic. That he was slave driving them too much and bossing everyone around. Occasionally hurtful remarks of his refusal to come to Lyoko, despite them knowing why he didn’t, made their way to his ears and Jeremy would be lying if he said all these things didn’t hurt. 

Jeremy always felt upset when his friends made their jabs even though he KNEW he wasn't easy to deal with. He was irritable. He was tired and ran on too little sleep much too often. His meals often went skipped and it was everything he could do to not go mad when one of the others messed things up with their antics. His head often ached with migraines, his eyes dry and vision woozy. It was everything he could do to keep from falling apart yet no one could see his helplessness. Jeremy refused to be the one to tell them. They already fought on Lyoko, he was the one who got everyone into the mess after all. His pride wouldn't let them find out how broken he really was becoming because he feared they'd only look down on him and leave. Even if logic dictated otherwise, years of being the outcast had scared Jeremy. Now, knowing how short he was with the others compared with their remarks on his lack of experience to be the voice of authority when bossing them around had forced Jeremy to keep his mouth shut. He didn't want them to see his weakness and share his hopelessness when things got too rough. 

But Jim had said Jeremy had guts. That was the closest someone had come to appreciating Jeremy and saying he was brave or being proud of him. Jim didn't know the teens fought against an evil AI regularly and didn’t know about XANA, and while it hadn't been for his intellect either, for Jeremy it was a big deal that someone was proud of him for taking on XANA directly. He knew it was far from likely he'd get any praise on his mental battle with XANA so even the praise on his foolhardy bravery especially with his lack of athletic ability was welcome. 

Jeremy convinced himself a training session with Jim every few days wouldn't be a bad idea. He'd get some fresh air and he'd have better chances against XANA's specters and most of all, someone would be proud of his efforts.

So he showed up every other day for two weeks and all the while his friends grew more and more concerned. Jeremy scarfed down meals faster than ever before rushing off and he was exhausted all the time but he looked strangely satisfied. On one hand his friends were happy that the blue eyed genius finally seemed to be getting out a little but on another, they were concerned. Jeremy may have been afraid they didn't care but they cared more than he knew and they could see the deepening dark circles and they noticed the heaviness in his limbs when he carried himself. 

Finally they couldn't take it and had to ask again, hoping a different approach would work better. 

“Jeremy, can you skip your training and hang out in the rec room with us today?” Yumi asked lightly. She had been elected to start the conversation. She was older and other than Aelita had the most calming effect on Jeremy, acting luke a pseudo older sister. “You deserve a break.” 

“Sorry guys, no can do.” Jeremy answered. He had stopped by to drop of his laptop again as usual. So far XANA had only attacked a few times when Jeremy was gone and giving Jim the slip, while it hadn’t been easy, had become manageable with the Return to the Past. 

“Tomorrow then?” asked Aelita, hopefully. Between his training and his working on the computer the pink haired girl barely saw him anymore. She missed the boy who was a little more than her best friend.

Jeremy looked apologetic. He missed Aelita too. “I have to work on the skid’s shields tomorrow. I’m using today's afternoon for training so I can't skip working on them tomorrow otherwise XANA’s next attack he might actually blow the ship apart." His explanation made sense but Aelita deflated hearing it. Before she could continue, Odd spoke. 

“But why are you trained so hard anyway. It's not like you go to Lyoko with us, Einstein?” He asked. For the life of him, the svelte boy couldn’t understand why Jeremy was so determined to continue his training. Odd was concerned for his friend. Jeremy was used to working himself to the bone but these days he was really pushing it. It didn't sit well with Odd and for the first time, the blonde boy wondered if he had something to do with Jeremy's new hobby. A dusty memory sprang to his mind, of the first time he had said Jeremy didn't play his part. Odd quickly pushed it away before the guilt rose.

“Maybe I just want to be in better shape, Odd!” Jeremy snapped in response. 

“Jeremy, we all know you'd never do anything unless it was XANA related. What's going on.” Ulrich finally spoke up calmly. 

“I already told you! It helps me defend myself from XANA if he attacks on earth. What is it with you guys? Can’t I take an interest in physical exercise?” Jeremy knew his temper was rising again. He hated it. But he felt cornered and he only knew how to lash out when that happened especially in his exhausted state.

“We're not saying you can’t, Jeremy. But why the sudden interest? You have to admit it is strange especially when you never waste time on stuff besides XANA.” Yumi answered softly.

“We’re just worried about you, Jeremy. You don’t look like you’re feeling so well,” Aelita said, her voice gentle and laced in concern. She reached out to touch Jeremy's hand comfortingly. "Please tell us why you're doing this."

Jeremy felt trapped. The sick feeling in his gut increased. The guilt for getting mad at his friends was mixing with the hurt he had kept bottled up for so long. 

“BECAUSE FOR ONCE SOMEONE IS PROUD OF ME, OK?” The genius finally exploded. Aelita's worry had been the tipping point and his friends' concern was what he had been waiting for for so long.

The Lyoko warriors were silent and Jeremy suddenly wished he hadn't spoken.

“What?” Yumi whispered in shock, reflecting everyone's unspoken question. 

“Jim said I had guts when I helped him against the XANA boar.” Jeremy explained, the fight leaving him despite his sharp tone. He refused to look at any of his friends. “It's not like anyone else sees my contributions against XANA anyway. They all fall flat since I never actually fight with him on Lyoko… and this helped me get out into the sun more _and_ helped me defend myself from XANA on Earth when he attacks. So I figured, why not?” 

“Jeremy what do you mean no one sees your contributions?” Aelita asked directly. The Lyoko warriors looked upset.

“Isn't it obvious? You guys are always saying I'm too irritable and work you too hard even when I have no right to because I’m not physically fit myself. I never go and fight on Lyoko or help defend the school either. But none of you see the amount of work I have to put in constantly mentally either." Jeremy's voice was steadily rising. "If I say something you all get upset. If I want you to spend extra time in the lab to move things along o-or learn the super computer or even just keep me company you have better things to do so I’m left to do stuff by myself. So excuse me for wanting to spend some of my afternoons with someone who's proud of _some_ of my efforts against XANA, even if he doesn't know the truth!”

With his piece said, Jeremy quickly turned away from his friends, blinking back the tears in his eyes before they could see. He left for his class before they could say anything, leaving his horrified friends behind.

“I… I never knew he felt that way.” Aelita looked like she was about to cry. How many times had she fought with Jeremy about his workaholic attitude? She never realized his side of the story would be his friends simply resisting too much for him to try communicating with them. She never thought that the life he had worked so hard to give her would come at the expense of his own loneliness. WHy hadn't she realized? She wondered. The boy who had fought so hard for her needed someone to fight with him and she had been blind to it.

“We all didn’t exactly give him a choice did we?” Yumi pointed out demurely. “He’s right about us always complaining.”

“I never thought he felt what we said so harshly,” Odd said. The guilt he had tried to push away earlier had hit full force.

“He’s been feeling this for a long time,” Ulrich realized somberly. “We have to fix this.”

They all agreed.

* * *

Jim was waiting in the forest when Jeremy arrived. He noticed the young boy was sadder than usual. Jeremy normally looked various forms of exhausted or upset and Jim would be lying if he said he didn't worry about the child prodigy but this was the first time he looked downright _sad_.

“Everything ok, Belpois?” The gruff man asked gently. 

“Huh? Oh…Yeah Jim…” Jeremy replied sullenly. He paused then, “Hey Jim… You’re proud of me, right? I know I haven’t improved much in these few weeks. Not as much as the others would have anyway but... my progress…it’s still…good?” He looked almost afraid of the answer and Jim paused, looking at the boy in confusion.

“Of course I am!” Jim replied enthusiastically without hesitation, a hint of incredulity in his tone as to why Jeremy was asking at all. “I'll admit Belpois, I wasn't sure how long you'd last. But you came and showed consistent effort every afternoon and are even building up some muscle. I’m not just proud. I’m VERY proud. Now why do you ask?” 

“No reason… but thanks Jim.” Jeremy smiled. Jim frowned. The boy's smile didn't quite reach his eyes and Jim could see it.

“Hmm… Well then let's get to work then." Jim tried to feign normlacy. Unable to help himself he continued, saying exactly what he thought the boy hoped to hear. "Although I know I’m not the only one proud of you, kid. You’re a real man and that brain of yours? You exercise it real good and that’s great. Heck all the teachers are proud of ya! And your friend’s too!” Jim exclaimed enthusiastically. “Even if perhaps sometimes it seems they’d rather not talk about it.”

Jeremy smiled for real this time as he started his push-ups. He was tired both emotionally and physically but hearing these words gave him the extra boost of strength to get through the afternoon. 

He hadn’t heard much from his friends when he came back. He had gone directly to the showers and had met Yumi running home on his way to the cafeteria. The Asian girl had looked apologetic and had stopped to hug Jeremy before yelling goodbye. Her parents would have been upset if she was late. Jeremy had quickly had dinner where luckily, no one had brought up his outburst. Odd, Ulrich and Aelita looked like they had wanted to say something but had settled for discussing a table tennis match that had happened in the rec room instead. The conversation was lackluster though and Jeremy was eager to leave before the problem was addressed properly. As soon as he finished, before leaving the cafeteria after dinner, Jeremy turned to Aelita, “Can I have my laptop back?”

The pink haired girl had looked at him with an unreadable expression on her face but smiled and said, “Actually Jeremy, I’m working on something. Can I please keep it for a while? I’ll bring it back before curfew?”

Jeremy supposed he didn’t need his laptop. Most of his files were on his computer anyway so he could easily get some work done without his laptop. He nodded and, much to his surprise, was rewarded with a kiss on the cheek. His cheeks turned crimson as Odd hollered and Jeremy excused himself from the table wondering what that was about. Once he made it back to his room, he opened up his computer. XANA had attacked before his training session and two attacks in a single day weren't common. Jeremy was hoping he’d finish his progress in time to get _some_ sleep before XANA attacked again.

Jeremy was typing away at his computer when he heard a knock on the door. He hesitated before allowing the person on the other side of the door to enter. It wasn’t curfew yet and Aelita still had to return his laptop but he was still nervous about the proverbial elephant in the room his friends had yet to discuss with him. It wasn’t his pride that was stopping Jeremy from wanting to talk about it. He trusted his friends. But he was afraid to ask for help, to ask for too much, lest they leave him behind. For a while now he had already feared he did and his explosion this afternoon certainly wouldn’t have made things better.

“Come in,” The blonde boy called, finally, realizing he had yet to respond. He didn’t turn around, just kept typing.

“Einstein?” It was Ulrich.

“Oh. Hey Ulrich,” Jeremy replied.

“You got a minute?” Ulrich asked.

“Sure,” was Jeremy’s noncommittal response. He didn’t turn around still.

“Will you look at me please?” The brunette behind him asked. Ulrich sat down on the bed, jaw set and expression stubborn. “I’m not leaving this room until you talk to me.”

Both boys suddenly felt a nostalgic smile creep up their faces. This situation was too similar to the day they first became friends.Oh, how long ago it had been. They hadn't a clue what was in store for them but almost two years later they were still here. Jeremy finally stopped typing.

“What is it?” Jeremy asked, finally turning around.

“Look… I’m sorry Jeremy. None of us knew you were feeling unappreciated and I guess I’m especially sorry. I’m the one who agreed to help you fight back when this whole thing first started. I wouldn’t change it and I don’t regret it. I’m just sorry I didn’t see what you were going through.”

Jeremy shook his head as Ulrich finished. “It’s not your fault. I’m the only one who can fight XANA from the computer. You guys do more than enough on Lyoko. Besides, I’m the one who got us in this mess to begin with.”

“Except we don’t Jeremy! Not without you!” Ulrich exclaimed. “We wouldn’t even have been able to go to Lyoko and save Aelita without you. And you still work hard. Harder than us even. Our battle ends on Lyoko but you keep fighting. And we don’t appreciate you enough, you were right. I'm sorry it took you breaking to notice that." Jeremy looked like he was about to protest but Ulrich didn't let him. "And I agreed, remember! We all agreed to help you and it’s a good thing we did cuz we got to save Aelita. So don't go around saying its your fault we're in this XANA mess. It was all worth it. You're not the only one to blame.”

Jeremy’s eyes met Ulrich’s guilty ones. “You were my first friend Jeremy,” Ulrich said in a low voice, gentler than he usually was. “I didn’t really have anyone before I saved you from XANA’s rabid robots. Everyone thought I was cool and popular but... I didn't have anyone who was actually a friend... who wanted to spend time with the me who isn't just the dumb soccer star. When you told me your secret and asked me for help, trusted me with something important to you, it made me feel special. Like we actually were friends for real. Nothing like the shallow acquaintanceship everyone else around me wanted. I’m sorry we made you feel like we didn’t want to help... that it was your fault and we hated being a part of this.”

Jeremy sighed, looking thoughtful for a moment, then nodded. He could relate to Ulrich's story and the boy's words had reassured him slightly even if a part of Jeremy still remained unconvinced. “Ok. Thanks for saying that. I’m alright really.” He gave a weak smile.

Ulrich shook his head. “No. You’re not. And you deserve a break. So tomorrow, you’re going to hang out with us, ok? No training with Jim and no working on the Skid.”

Jeremy’s face contorted and he felt an ugly bubble of irritation rise in his chest; the one he felt every time one of the group tried to argue with him about something he knew was a bad idea. Ulrich held up a hand before he could speak.

“Aelita’s going to help you with the shields. That’s why she still has your laptop. She’s been working on it all afternoon. She was really upset you were feeling this way. And Odd and Yumi and I have something planned for you tomorrow. No working. Trust me, Einstein.”

Jeremy still looked like he was going to protest but sighed upon seeing Ulrich’s pleading eyes. “Alright. Only if the work is done though.” He relented.

“Yes!” Ulrich pumped his fist in victory just as there was another knock on the door. The brunette smirked. “That’d be Aelita.”

Said pink haired girl entered with Odd following behind her.

“Hey Einstein,” The purple clad boy said, almost nervously.

Jeremy smiled. “Hey Odd.” Odd smiled back, relieved the boy genius wasn’t angry.

"Jeremy I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I never should have kept joking you don't do enough by not coming to Lyoko. You don't need to be able to fight physically. You do enough without it." The boy paused. "And anyway... if you manage to become good at sports then there won't be any talent left for the rest of us, ya know? How else are we supposed to get any babes if you're the full package?" The blonde boy chuckled nervously at the end of his apology, his half-hearted attempt at humor failing him.

Jeremy gave a half smile rolling his eyes at the second half of Odd's sentence. "Thanks Odd. Apology accepted."

"Does this mean you'll stop training with Jim then?" Odd asked eagerly. His guilt returned full force when Jeremy shook his head.

"I like training with Jim. Even if I don't need to, I want to. Don't worry though Odd, I won't surpass you guys. There'll be enough talent left for you to show off." Jeremy's eyes were light as he said this and Odd breathed a sigh of relief, the guilt finally abating knowing Jeremy had forgiven him.

“Jeremy, I did the work on the Skid’s shields,” Aelita stepped forward then, handing him his laptop. “There’s only a little left. I thought we could work on it... together?”

Jeremy gave a small smile as he looked over the work Aelita had done. There was barely any left. He looked up at the girl who was biting her lip as she looked at him. Jeremy and Aelita worked together often and both gave it their all but there was a different motive behind her working so hard this time. Jeremy could read her easily when he wasn’t distracted. He realized she had missed him as much as he missed her. Working together didn’t mean they got to spend a lot of free time either way but it was better than nothing. Both teens found it difficult to go too long without spending time with the other and their clashes occurred due to their schedules.

“I’d love that.” Jeremy agreed softly, his attention fully on his best friend. “And… Aelita? Maybe we could go for a quick walk outside before we get started?” The blonde boy knew his pink-haired friend would never had asked. She had missed him but she was putting him and his circumstances first. But Jeremy had missed her too and wanted to spend time together outside of work. Now that most of the work was done, he thought maybe sparing half an hour wouldn't be so difficult.

Aelita smiled back with a delighted nod. This was the Jeremy she missed. It hurt her to know she had been part of the cause of why he was missing in the first place, but now she resolved to help him as much as she could. That was the only way of ensuring they both got what they wanted: time to spend together. She quickly sat down next to him, her hand lightly covering his as an additional sign of support. The two geniuses were broken out of their trance by Odd.

“Ok so, we know you guys will probably be up past curfew so to ensure that Jim and Delmas don’t catch you, Ulrich and I will act as your distractions.” Odd announced, a maniacal grin on his face as he looked between Jeremy and Aelita. “You love birds work quickly then wrap stuff up as quick as you can though. Oh, and try to keep it down this time? We can’t save you if you’re making a lot of noise.” He made a kissing sound to punctuate his words.

Jeremy and Aelita both flushed.

“Odd!” Jeremy exclaimed. The svelte teen just gave a cheeky grin. “See ya Einstein, Princess!”

“See you both tomorrow,” Ulrich grinned as he followed his roommate. “Aelita make sure he actually goes to sleep early and doesn't stay up till 4 AM today. Yumi will kill us all if he doesn’t sleep before his surprise tomorrow.”

Aelita grinned. “No problem Ulrich. I’m on it.”

Jeremy looked bewildered as his two male friends walked out the door. His eyes went between the door and Aelita. “What surprise?” He finally asked.

“That’s for us to know and you to find out!” Aelita said happily. “Now, shall we get started? We can take a walk in half an hour once the simulation starts running. There's a little bit of the program left that I wasn't able to finish yet. We can get back by curfew and then work on the rest. Shouldn’t take us more than an hour after that if we're working together.”

Jeremy looked up at Aelita and nodded. She really had worked it all out. His _friends_ had worked it all out. For his sake.

The blonde Einstein smiled as he took a deep breath and let out a sigh of relief. He wasn’t alone. His friends were _proud_ of him and would help him. Their actions had told that to him more than words ever could, acting for now as a healing band-aid to the hurt that had been festering inside of him for far too long.

And for a moment, a burden was finally off his shoulders.

**Author's Note:**

> I know there's not much of this fandom left active but I'd really appreciate if any of you who read it leave a review as well. No matter how long its been, I'd love seeing your reviews and constructive criticism.


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